Alcohol Delivery App Development Cost & Key Features

Imagine it’s late in the evening and you are enjoying a great time with your friends and family at home when suddenly, you run out of your favorite bottle of whiskey. So what do you do? Rush to your nearest liquor store amidst all the celebration to purchase a new bottle? Well, not necessarily, if you have an alcohol delivery app.

In today’s technologically advanced era, we have an app for everything. Right from booking a cab to ordering your favorite food or even booking laundry services, everything can be done with just a few clicks. So why not have a mobile app for liquor delivery as well? After all, the liquor industry is one of the greatest markets in the world, with a revenue of USD 222,098M in 2020. Revenue in the Alcoholic Drinks market amounts to US$283.80bn in 2023. The market is expected to grow annually by 5.55% (CAGR 2023–2027).

In this article, we will look at the various aspects of developing an on-demand alcohol delivery app, including features, monetization opportunities, app development costs, and much more.

How COVID-19 Affected the On-demand Liquor Delivery?

The internet has never been more powerful than during the coronavirus pandemic. As the world went into lockdown, a majority of shoppers logged online generating a huge uptick in the ecommerce alcohol sector.

When people across the globe were forced to stay indoors to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, they shifted to different online platforms to stock up on their favorite liquor. And this immensely boosted the on-demand liquor delivery model.

According to reports, the ecommerce liquor sales in the U.S. documented a steady increase of 291% for the week ending 28th March and a further increase of 387% for the week ending 11th April 2020. Additionally, one of the leading alcohol delivery services in the U.S. Drizly accounted for a big leap in sales from the week beginning 9th March. By 6th April, the company witnessed a 550% increase over baseline.

Revenue in the Alcoholic Drinks market amounts to US$222,098m in 2020

Market share of the Leading Online Alcohol Delivery companies in the US in 2018

Why Invest in Alcohol Delivery App Development?

The worldwide alcoholic beverages market was valued at $1,439 billion in 2017. And this is anticipated to reach $1,684 billion by 2025, documenting a CGAR of 2.0% from 2018 to 2025. This growth is primarily driven by the surge in global young-adult demographic, increase in disposable income, and hike in consumer demand for premium products.

The same reasons have contributed to a huge surge in the Indian alcohol market. The Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) segment is estimated to be valued at over INR 3,000 billion by the end of 2026, expanding at a CGAR of 5.2%.

The above-mentioned statistics show that India is an ideal market for generating high revenue growth of alcohol owing to the increase in consumption among the people. This has made the on-demand alcohol delivery app model a highly profitable venture.

With the innovative and easy to use features, alcohol delivery apps help companies to attract more customers and maximize their revenues. These apps provide a better ROI, facilitate cashless transactions, and enable the admins to keep an eye on daily transactions. So, investing in alcohol delivery app development is definitely going to yield great results.

Government Regulatory and On-demand Alcohol Delivery

In the US, since the COVID-19 pandemic ascended, several states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have allowed for on-demand alcohol delivery. For instance, Illinois passed a bill that would keep its emergency to-go for alcohol in place for a year, whereas New Jersey increased the time period to six months after the pandemic ends.

Furthermore, Colorado allowed to-go cocktails and liquor delivery to continue through July 2022.

Now if we talk about India, liquor is one of the best revenue sources to state governments in the country.

• The central government earns approximately INR 2.48 Tn annually from alcohol excise duties.
• Many states in the country have already categorized alcohol as an essential commodity
• Startup companies delivering alcohol can aid the government to earn extra income via additional taxes and a per delivery charge

Consequently, the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) has requested the state and central governments to permit the home delivery of liquor as the coronavirus restrictions force people to stay indoors.

Also, the state government permitted online liquor sales in the states of Odisha and West Bengal. Food delivery giant, Swiggy has started doorstep delivery of alcohol in these states in an effort to reduce long queues and overcrowding outside liquor shops during the pandemic.

Reasons like the heavy dependency of the Indian government on liquor for a steady income and increasing alcohol consumption among people have made on-demand liquor delivery one of the most profitable business ventures. Currently, the sector showcases great potential, marking this as the best time to enter the segment.

Furthermore, the lack of any on-demand alcohol delivery app in India presents a great opportunity for the existing alcohol retailers to leverage technology and provide their on-demand liquor delivery services to maximize profitability.

How Alcohol Delivery App Works?

An alcohol delivery app enables liquor retailers to offer an ecommerce platform through the app. Using this app, the users can browse through the various varieties of liquor, including whiskey, vodka, beer, gin, wine, and much more.

Once the customer has chosen the desired variety and brand of liquor, he can easily schedule the delivery time of his order. The delivery can either be handled from the retailer’s end or he could hire a 3rd party delivery service to execute all deliveries.

Now let us look at how Drizly, a leading Boston-based liquor delivery app works. Also known as ‘Amazon for liquor’, the incredible liquor app saw a 300% jump in its sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Once the users have downloaded the app, they need to create a profile and start shopping.
• Drizly partners with over 1,000 brick-and-mortar alcohol shops in Canada and America. Consequently, it enables the users to choose their favorite liquor from the local stores with a simple click of the button.
• After the user places the order, Drizly’s store partners prepare and pack the items.
• The package is then picked up by Drizly’s courier personnel who then deliver the order within an hour to the user’s doorstep.

Monetization Opportunities for Liquor/Alcohol Delivery App

This is one of the key aspects of developing an alcohol delivery app as it regulates how the app intends to make money. Some of the most popular monetization techniques that these apps can consider include:

1. Commissions

This is an effective and perhaps the simplest monetization technique. Here, the alcohol delivery app owner charges a specific amount of fee for every order placed through the app.

2. Featured Listing

This is another popular method of monetizing your app. In this, the app owner offers the top spots of the app to the liquor store retailers who are willing to pay a specified amount of money. A lot of retailers opt for these spots since the companies that appear on the top record maximum sales.

3. Ad Management

The on-demand alcohol delivery app can also make money by advertising-related and relevant products and services to the customers. The app owner can charge a certain fee from the advertising businesses, which in turn can profit from reaching a wider customer base.

4. eStore Enablement

Adding the e-commerce feature to your alcohol mobile app is another great way to increase your monetization sources. You can offer beer mugs, wine glasses, and other related items through the app to keep the users engaged while boosting the ratings and popularity of the app.

Top Alcohol Delivery Apps in The World

Namely, Swill, Drizly, Flaviar, Minibar, Caskers, Delivery.com, FreshDirect, Saucey, and FirstLeaf are some of the popular liquor delivery apps people use to shop for various kinds of alcohol like beer, wine, and spirits online.

General Features of Alcohol Delivery App

Customer/User Panel

• Social Signup/Login
• Browse Liquor Products
• Filters to navigate through products categories
• Place orders for home delivery
• View order history
• View discounts and offers
• Payment methods: like e-payment or COD
• Track orders
• Manage user profile
• Push Notifications
• Review ordered products
• Provide Feedback

Admin Panel

• Register and Login
• Liquor Store Management
• Customer Management
• Product and Price Management
• Order Management
• Payment Management
• Real-Time Reporting
• Offer & Discounts Management
• Push Notifications by Email/SMS

Liquor Store Manager Panel

• Registration and Login
• Create/Modify/Update/Delete drink categories
• Mange complimentary snacks available for sale with drinks
• Manage all product prices
• View product ratings and reviews
• Manage store earnings
• Generate reports
• Manage delivery executives

Delivery Manager

• Add/Delete/Suspend delivery executives
• Manage pending and ongoing orders
• Assign orders to delivery executives
• View customer location using GPS
• Answering customer queries through in-app chat

Advance Features To Include in a Liquor Delivery App

Social Login/ Sign Up

The app must enable users to quickly sign up using an existing social media account. Alternatively, users must also be able to sign up with their email ID and contact details. An easy sign-up process encourages maximum engagement.

Push Notifications

Notifications help to keep the customers informed about their order status as well as special offers and discounts given by the liquor store owner. At the same time, these notifications alert the store managers about all the new orders received.

Document Upload

This feature allows the customers to upload the necessary documents to their profile to ensure they are eligible to purchase alcohol online.

Document Scanning

An efficient document scanning facility enables the store managers and delivery agents to scan nearly all available formats of government-issued documents to verify their authenticity.

Document Verification

As we know, the alcohol delivery industry operates under harsh regulations. So this feature helps to authorize the age and other details of the users to make sure they are eligible to use the app and order alcohol.

In-App Chat

Using in-app chat, the customers can easily communicate with the delivery agent without leaving the app. They can verify the status of the order as well as help the agent to reach the customer’s location with ease.

In-App Navigation

Alcohol delivery apps should be integrated with a GPS location identifier. This feature enables the users to track the location of the delivery agent in real-time. Besides, the tracking screen also records and displays the tentative arrival time of their order.

Voice Command

An advanced feature that could make your app very popular among tech-savvy users. Order by using voice commands just like using Siri or Amazon Alexa.

Behavior Tracking

Behavior tracking helps to understand the customer’s purchase patterns and interests. It can be used to identify the specific requirements and preferences of the users. This information is used to personalize the user experience. The store manager can manage the ads accordingly and offer relevant notifications to the users.

Real-time Tracking

With this feature, customers can track the real-time location of the delivery agent. They can also guide them with the most suitable route to the destination.

PIP Mode On

Picture in picture mode is an additional feature that could help users to navigate to other apps while also looking at the order tracking screen.

Multiple Payment Gateways

It is important to offer multiple payment options to users to facilitate quick and easy payments. The customers must be given the option to pay via credit and debit cards, e-wallets, PayPal, cash on delivery, etc.

Loyalty Programs

A powerful loyalty program encourages customers to order from an online delivery service. Using this feature, special offers or discount vouchers can be awarded to the loyal customers of the app. This helps to retain more customers in the longer run.

CRM Integration

Integrating your liquor delivery app to a CRM can help you manage and retain customers with ease. It helps by making you better at utilizing customer data for sales and growth.

CMS for Blogging

A good CMS will help the admin easily manage all the content that is published on the app. He can also use it for blogging and optimizing SEO rankings of the app.

Real-time Analytics

This is an important feature that helps the app owner to gain vital insights into the business. He can easily generate revenue reports, revenue projections, etc. to figure out the viability of the business.

Heat Map View

The heat map allows the alcohol delivery app owner to see areas with maximum orders, hot pickup, and drop off zones. They can use this information to relocate the delivery agents near the top-traffic areas so as to avoid delays in delivery.

Marketing & Promotional Tools

The admin can use a variety of marketing tools to manage promotional campaigns, ads, email templates, etc. to attract a wider base of customers.

Queue Algorithm

The use of a queueing algorithm in a delivery app will help in order management and processing. Whenever a new order is created the algo will detect the nearest delivery boy and will assign that order. It offers many advanced features for proper order deliveries.

Tech Stack required for Alcohol Delivery App Development

Team Structure Required for Alcohol Delivery App Development

To build a successful, scalable, and innovative product, it is important to get in touch with a good app development agency that boasts a competent team. The right team will combine the needed expertise and experience to provide you with better returns on your investment.

A great team comprises:

• A Project Manager
• A Business Analysis Team
• Android and iOS Developers
• Frontend & Backend Developers
• QA Professionals

How Much Does it Cost to Build an Alcohol Delivery App?

The cost and time involved in developing an alcohol delivery app depend upon several factors, such as the type of features opted, the complexity of the project, etc. To give you a better understanding of the same, here are the factors you must consider while developing your liquor app.

1. The number of features incorporated

If you opt for an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) which only comprises the basic features, then your overall cost of development will be low. On the other hand, a fully-functional, feature-rich version will cost much more.

2. The platform selected

A native mobile app for both Android and iOS will cost you a lot of money. If you have budget restraints, you must opt for the platform that is widely prevalent in your business domain.

3. The hourly rate charged by the app development company

Mostly, all app development companies charge on an hourly basis. All the team members working on the project are paid based on the number of hours they commit to the app development. Based on this, an approximate cost of development is provided to the client.

4. Location of the app development company

The location of the app development company also plays a vital role in discerning the total development cost. For instance, in the USA, any local app development company will charge $50 to $250 per hour, making the cost go up between $70,000-$75,000. However, if you are familiar with your precise requirements, you can also go for a good app development company in India. Such a company will perform a skilled job at a much lesser rate. Thus, you can easily get a functional app between $15,000-$20,000.

Apart from these, factors such as UI/ UX development, website connectivity, and app store optimization also play a deciding role.

Wrapping Up

Liquor on demand is a promising and rewarding business sector that will continue to flourish even after this pandemic. It is the best time to invest in this domain as the worldwide lockdown has made people much more dependent on on-demand apps.

To start your delivery business, you need to locate a sustainable monetization model, lawful age verification tools, and a capable app development team.